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Carbon Monoxide Emergency

By Story & Photos by Southern Maryland News Net

September 1, 2019

On Saturday, August 31, 2019, at approximately 7:40 a.m., emergency medical personnel responded to the 46700 block of Planters Court in Lexington Park, for the reported unconscious subject after a fall.

The 911 caller stated a 50 year-old female was unconscious after a fall, and that a second patient was now unconscious with the caller going in and out of consciousness. Due to the answers and details the caller gave, the 911 Emergency Communications Center upgraded the assignment and dispatched firefighters from Bay District, along with fire and emergency medical personnel from NAS Patuxent River to the residence for the possible carbon monoxide detector with symptoms.

Crews arrived on the scene to find a one-story split foyer residence with nothing evident. Firefighters attempted voice contact at the locked front door, and were about to force entry into the residence when a semi-conscious female was able to unlock the door and was pulled out by firefighters.

Within 5 minutes of arriving on the scene and entering the residence one adult male was found unconscious in a bedroom, one adult female was found unconscious in the bedrooms bathroom, and one small dog was found vomiting and semi-conscious in the hallway.

All three patients and the dog were rescued from the residence and placed into the waiting hands of emergency medical personnel for care. Firefighters then re-entered the residence to search for the cause and to conduct a secondary search of the residence. Crews found a running vehicle in the attached garage, with the garage door closed.

The vehicle was reportedly running since late Friday night when one of the occupants arrived home and forgot to turn the vehicle off.

Three adult patients were transported to Millison Plaza where Maryland State Police Helicopters Trooper 2, and Trooper 7 transported them to an area trauma center with severe carbon monoxide poisoning. The residence and dog were placed into the hands of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office and Animal Control.

Health effects and symptoms from Carbon Monoxide (CO) are based on the different levels and length of exposure as well as the patients age and health condition. The concentration of CO is measured in parts per million (ppm). The exposure of CO in the range from 1 to 70 ppm are uncertain but most people will not experience any noticeable symptoms. As the level of CO rises, and remains above 70 ppm, symptoms become more noticeable and patients may have headaches, fatigue, and nausea. As CO levels increase even more to above 150 to 200 ppm, the contrentarion can become deadly if its persistent and patients will have disorientation, unconsciousness, or even death.

When firefighters first entered the residence, they received readings over 1,680 ppm in the house, and over 1,000 ppm in the basement.